Abingdon-based Zircotec, a heat management specialist, is to provide expertise to a Government-funded initiative to develop viable and cost-effective low-carbon off-highway vehicle technologies.

The company is part of a consortium of major UK automotive suppliers to be awarded funding through the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) to develop viable and cost-effective gas-fuelled off-highway vehicle technologies.

The consortium’s focus is to improve the performance, autonomy and efficiency of a low-carbon agricultural-tractor concept using an engine fuelled by natural gas or bio-gas instead of diesel.

If successful, the technology developed will enable other vehicles — such as trucks and buses — to adopt gas-fuelled engines too.

Significantly higher exhaust gas temperatures occur with gas-fuelled engines compared with diesel, necessitating advanced thermal management techniques to meet cost and packaging targets.

Zircotec (www.zircotec.com) is providing essential thermal management consultation to contain the higher exhaust temperatures — 850°C instead of 500°C.

The project aims to develop and demonstrate practical and cost-effective technologies to use biomethane (produced from agricultural waste) to power farm equipment directly, reducing emissions significantly and coming close to being carbon-neutral.

In well-to-wheels analysis of CO₂ emissions, biomethane competes with electric power from wind turbines and out-performs all other fuels.

Graeme Barette, Zircotec Group sales director, said: “The change of fuel leads to much higher exhaust temperatures and requires a completely different after-treatment system to a diesel tractor, without any space for conventional heat shields and insulation.

“This means developing compact high-performance integrated solutions to manage the engine bay temperatures and protect the external environment.”